"It took almost two minutes for it to stop"

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A severe earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border region during the night caused numerous buildings to collapse and buried people.

Several cities and provinces are affected in the Turkish-Syrian border region.

On Monday morning, the authorities spoke of 284 deaths and more than 2,300 injuries on the Turkish side alone.

However, the number of official fatalities increased hourly.

The full extent of the destruction became clear after sunrise.

In many places, emergency services began to search for people who had been caught by surprise during the night.

Ihsan Cetintas, residents:

“I was sleeping when my wife suddenly woke me up.

The tremor was very strong, very scary.

We heard noise from everywhere.

It took almost two minutes for it to stop."

The Red Cross mobilized rescue workers and asked people to leave damaged houses.

The Turkish interior minister called on people not to use mobile phones if possible, so as not to overload the network and to give priority to reaching those who have been buried.

In neighboring Syria, many cities in the provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia are also affected.

The authorities have reported more than 230 deaths so far.

Around four million people live in the north-west of the country plagued by civil war.

Many of them live in ramshackle conditions with poor medical care.

Rescue workers reported that the hospitals were quickly overflowing with the injured.

The earthquake, whose epicenter was about 90 kilometers north of the Syrian border, had a magnitude of 7.9, according to the German Geo Research Center GFZ.

It was reportedly still felt in Cairo, about a thousand kilometers from the center of the quake.